A HISTORY OF SCANDALOUS CRAWLEY WOMEN
by sablemama62
Summary: This is a history of the scandals brought on by the Crawley women told to the youngest member of the Crawley family. This story is also set into the Alternate Universe because Lavinia Swire doesn't succumb to the Spanish Flu. I decided to make Michael Gregson a more sympathetic character. Though I haven't seen Season 4, I'm not so sure that Mr. Gregson will be as kind.


DISCLAIMER: I don't own Downton Abbey. This is a story set in the Alternate Universe. Michael Gregson is a decent, yet dying man. Remember when Violet tries to save Edith from becoming a drudge and a nursemaid to Sir Anthony Strallan? Well, she ultimately becomes a nursemaid anyway to a much younger and supposedly whole man. Also, Lavinia Swire doesn't succumb to the Spanish Flu. I want to relay that the three children of the Crawley sisters will lose a parent. I see them being raised as siblings instead of only children. I invite constructive reviews and criticisms.

A HISTORY OF SCANDALOUS CRAWLEY WOMEN

"You mustn't indulge the child, my dear. No one wants to handle a child who terrorizes the most seasoned and hardened of governesses and nannies." Violet, the Dowager of Grantham admonishes the child's godmother, Lavinia Swire.

"MaryLavinia is our incorrigible angel, Granny. She looks and behaves just like someone we know and love so well. Besides, for an infant of only six months, she remains a happy, delightful baby given that she now only has one living parent." Lavinia glances at Violet with sadness for the offspring of all three Crawley sisters lost a parent in infancy.

Three Crawley women, the eldest by marriage, the second by adoption, and the youngest by birth in the drawing room away from the bustle of the household, enjoy this rare time together. The youngest Crawley woman, Miss MaryLavinia Gregson-Crawley basks in the love and attention of her godmother, Lavinia Swire. Born with the startlingly pale, blue eyes, a shock of auburn hair, an innate sense of who she is and her inheritance, little Miss Gregson-Crawley is the delight of everyone at Downton Abbey with exception to her clueless and misguided grandfather, Robert, the Earl of Grantham. Due to the fact of her illegitimate birth, Robert secures a couple to take his own flesh and blood to rear as their own child. Upon MaryLavinia's disappearance, the entire household takes part in looking for the infant who brings much needed smiles and laughter to a house slowly emerging from tragic grief and sorrow. Lavinia is beside herself with worry. Edith reluctantly agrees for Lavinia to return to Downton with her precious charge. MaryLavinia's father, Michael Gregson is dying an excruciating painful, wretched death from the ravages of cancer of the lungs. Fearing that his daughter will hear him scream in pain, he insists to both Mary and Edith that she is to never carry the memory of his horrid condition. Unlike her older cousins, Sybbie and Georgie, Michael Gregson will get to hold his daughter for the first three months of her life. Within the fourth month, the cancer spreads turning a tall, slim young man into a living skeleton. Within the fifth month, the pain from the disease causes Michael to scream in uncontrolled agony. By MaryLavinia's sixth month, Michael Gregson is dead at the age of 35.

The irony in all of this is that Edith, the Crawley sister who turns her back on her aristocratic background, becomes not nursemaid to a sick and crippled old man, but to a sick and dying young man. Edith, the sister put out into the utter darkness by her father, cares less about the scandal, the ruin of her good name and reputation. She cares that the man she sacrifices everything to love is now gone. She cares that her daughter is now fatherless. She cares because she remembers Robert wanting to turn his new born granddaughter now bereft of a mother out into the streets less than twenty-fours after Sybbie's birth and her mother, Sybil's death. Mary never leaves Edith's side. Both she and Lavinia know the devastation of losing a cherished love. Though both women love one another, Mary and Lavinia will both love Matthew Crawley until their end. Even, when in labor and birth, Mary and Lavinia never leave Edith alone. It is this care and devotion of ignoring Robert's rages, encouraging Cora to travel to London to be sure of a safe delivery and to see the daughter who without her parent's approval openly loves and lives her life with a man married to a mad woman committed to an asylum. It is this support that propels Michael and Edith to name their daughter after the two woman who refuse to judge and to assist and witness the entrance of another indomitable, Crawley woman.

"The loss weighs on all of us, my dear. Yet, that doesn't mean that we give in to the whims of a certain six months old simply because she's the mirror image of perfection itself." Violet's smirk is enchanting.

"Granny, how can you say such a thing when you are the most guilty culprit of them all? She's your mirror image and she can be just as imperious as her overindulgent Great-Granny!" Lavinia teases with appreciation for Violet's wisdom in lightening the mood over the tragic circumstances of MaryLavinia's father, Michael Gregson's death.

With that, MaryLavinia squeals upon hearing Lavinia's mention of her imperialistic ways.

"Listen to the evidence. She knows and understands on some level what we are saying." Lavinia looks directly at eyes identically as blue and as pale but soft with wisdom and age.

"Nonsense, a gift here, a gift there never hurts anyone especially with three angels to spoil. I leave it to the parents to undo the damage." Violet is in her element.

"What are we to do with you?" Lavinia looks upon her goddaughter with love and then upon the woman who years ago attempted to orchestrate her ruin. Yet, wounds heal. Lavinia Swire looks upon the woman who orchestrated her return to Downton and to the second love of her life, Lady Mary Crawley with exquisite admiration.

"Do you not trust Nanny to take care of MaryLavinia? You haven't let the baby out of your sight since that couple returned her to us day before yesterday." Violet inquires out of genuine concern.

"I trust Nanny. I don't trust Papa. MaryLavinia sleeps with me, Granny. I still can't believe that Papa would do such a thing. Edith entrusts me to take care of her baby only for her to disappear because her grandfather is ashamed of her out-of-wedlock birth. He forgets that his eldest daughter lives with a woman." Lavinia remembers the fear, panic, anger and relief over her heart's disappearance and return. "I can't let her out of my sight, Granny. Mary's enraged over Papa's behavior. Edith entrusts me to look after her baby and she vanishes under my care." Anger seeps through a kind and beautiful face.

"Robert forgets many things when it suits his mood, my dear. You must allow Nanny to help you, Lavinia. You'll exhaust yourself attempting to run a large house while carrying a baby in your arms twenty four hours out of the day." Violet looks upon both her great-granddaughter and granddaughter by adoption knowing that Lavinia is in desperate need of a break for at least a couple of hours. "Lavinia, please allow me to keep MaryLavinia for you. Enjoy the fresh air, the peace and quiet because Mary will have a few choice things to say to her father upon her return to Downton. Also, I don't think that Mary will leave Edith alone in London. Therefore, dinner within the comings days will prove to be quite entertaining." Violet anticipates the coming debacle with excitement and glee.

"Well, Granny, if you are sure. MaryLavinia is dry. She's been fed. So, she should be content. Thank you, for the help. I could call Mama to come and hold her if you'd like." Lavinia's appreciative, but unsure.

"Nonsense, Cora has her hands full trying not to kill that foolish son of mine. You run along. My favorite great-granddaughter and I have a great deal to discuss this afternoon." Violet takes MaryLavinia into her arms. Upon feeling her great-grandmother and hearing about the great-grandmother and daughter time together, MaryLavinia squeals with delight.

"Well, I take you at your word. Just one thing, please behave yourselves." Lavinia kisses both her goddaughter and grandmother before she exits the drawing room.

"Now what kind of trouble could my great-granddaughter and I get into, my dear?" Violet gives Lavinia a very naughty look.

"Behave yourselves." Lavinia winks and then she is out of the drawing room.

Violet looks toward the now closed drawing room door to be sure that great-grandmother and great-granddaughter have peace and complete privacy. Once sure that no one will disturb them, Violet kisses the infant in her charge. She takes in the subtle scent of olive oil along with the fresh, sweet scent oh new life. Pale blue, upon pale blue, Violet gives her great-granddaughter a conspiratorial look.

"You are quite the scandal. Though, I suppose that you are the innocent in all of this. Yet, you are very much a Crawley woman. I hear that you made your displeasure known to that horrid couple who took you away from your own flesh and blood." Violet smiles impressed with the baby smiling in her arms.

MaryLavinia Gregson-Crawley voiced her displeasure in the form of absolute rage. Tiny hands balled into fists. Tiny legs kicked wildly about. A tiny face purple and red twisted into an enraged frown. She wailed in the knowledge that these people weren't her kin. She cried, screamed without a moments rest. She raged throughout the night and into the next morning. She screamed when they attempted to change or feed their supposedly new charge. MaryLavinia never ceased her outrage until the couple who feared not only for the safety and well-being of this infant, but their own safety and well-being returned the livid baby into the arms of her worried godmother. Then and only then a tiny bottom lip quivered and the wailing stopped. Pale blue eyes wet and red met concerned greenish-gray. Greenish-gray turned into eyes stormy as the turbulent English Channel when Lavinia discovered that MaryLavinia's own grandfather orchestrated the debacle in the ridiculous belief that due to his granddaughter's illegitimacy, MaryLavinia would be happy in the care of someone else.

A loud squeal comes from the six months old in her own way understanding what the older woman is saying.

"You are in good company, my dear. Through no fault of your own, you come from a long line of scandalous Crawley women." Violet decides to tell this young Crawley woman about the women who love and protect their, "incorrigible angel".

"The first scandalous Crawley woman is your aunt and godmother, Mary. Apparently, due to your aunt's passionate nature, she…how can I say this until you're older to understand. Yes, she sent a young man to his end when he entered her room without invitation." Violet's impressed with her own ingenuity in not getting too graphic about her Aunt Mary's secret of killing the Turkish envoy, Kemal Pamuk in the midst of heated sexual intercourse.

MaryLavinia squeals and coos upon hearing about her adored Aunt Mary. She'll understand later the fear, consequences and implications her adored Mary suffers through this scandal.

"The next scandalous Crawley woman was your Aunt Sybil, may she rest in peace." Violet's pain of the loss of this spirited young woman remains evident nearly three years later.

"Now your Aunt Sybil, your Aunt Mary and your mother's sister possessed a mind of her own. She did the unthinkable. Your Aunt Sybil married the family chauffeur. Your uncle and godfather, Tom is now the agent of this estate." Violet shares this history with the youngest member of the family.

MaryLavinia smiles upon hearing about her cousin Sybbie's mother and father.

Again, Violet omits the more painful part of losing Sybil after giving birth to her only daughter, Sybil named after her mother.

"The next scandalous Crawley woman is a Crawley woman by adoption. She is your godmother, your Aunt Lavinia. Who thinks that a young woman so slight and demure causes one of the largest political scandals in British history? Your Aunt Lavinia instigates the Marconi Scandal of 1912. To settle a debt of someone she loves, your Aunt Lavinia absconds with papers from her uncle's office implicating members of Parliament taking advantage of inside information on a government contract not privy to the public." Violet relays with what is now admiration. Conveniently, she forgets that it's this information that both she and her daughter, Lady Rosamund Painswick try to get Mary to use against Lavinia in an effort to ruin Lavinia in the eyes of the man both Mary and Lavinia love then as well as now, the late, Matthew Crawley.

MaryLavinia, coos, gurgles and squeals, obviously pleased at what she hears from her great-grandmother. Years later, MaryLavinia will know and understand the price her adored Aunt Lavinia pays in keeping bringing members of Parliament to their knees secret.

"The last of the scandalous Crawley women is your very own mother, my sweet girl. Edith, the most sensible of the three Crawley Sisters, falls for the affable editor of the "Sketch", Michael Gregson. However, there's a problem. Michael Gregson is married to a mad woman committed to an asylum. Your darling Mama, my dear girl apparently knows about your father's marital status from the beginning. Yet, your Mama travels more and more to London while staying longer and longer, a week or two on end at times. Now, of course we prevail upon your Mama the wisdom in bringing such a relationship to an end until we receive the news that Edith is pregnant with you. I, of course, am not the least bit surprised. After all, I along with your Great-Aunt Isobel orchestrate a Boston Marriage between the women for whom you are named. Your Mama and Papa however are overjoyed about the life that is to come. Your Grandfather however is appalled. The ruin of your Mama's good name and reputation and the scandal that ensues from the fact that an unmarried daughter of an Earl lives quite openly with a man married to a mad woman committed to an asylum. Such concerns don't matter within the bohemian confines of Bloomsbury. Your Mama, Papa, and Grandpapa have such a falling out that your Grandpapa disowns your Mama." Violet looks upon her tiny charge with love and understanding.

MaryLavinia is quiet. Her bottom lip trembles as her Great-Granny tells her about her own mother.

"Ever a Crawley woman, your Mama accepts her supposed separation from her family. I must give at least the appearance of disapproval. For reasons you'll understand later, your Grandmama will defy your Grandpapa making frequent trips to see about her disgraced daughter and her grandchild growing within." Violet sees that MaryLavinia is slightly smiling.

"The ironic thing is as your Mama blooms, your Papa begins to falter. No one is to blame, your Papa becomes ill. No one knows what is wrong until he visits his physician, and the news is devastating: cancer of the lungs. Your Aunt Mary and Aunt Lavinia along with your Grandmama travel to London to welcome the newest member of the Crawley family into the world. No one prepares them to understand what Edith now faces by taking care of both a newborn and a sick lover and companion. For the first three months of your life, your Papa loves you, holds you, kisses you, acknowledges you to all of London, England, and the world. Oh, my dear MaryLavinia, your Papa knows that he will not live to see you grow up and he says just as much in his beautiful final editorial completed days before he died. Your Papa loves you so much, that when the pain of that horrid disease becomes too much for him to bear, he begs for your Mama to send you to Downton so you will never know how much he suffers. Your Aunt Lavinia brings you back to us. And that's when that Grandfather of yours gets the idea that a Crawley would be happy away from her family and those who love her. But you proved your Grandpapa wrong, didn't you my dear?" Violet kisses her great-granddaughter and holds her close.

MaryLavinia squeals with delight because she knows as young as she is, who she is, and who she belongs to and who loves her, for her.

"Furthermore, your Papa leaves your Mama a considerably wealthy woman, and thus, you an heiress. Now let your Grandpapa put that in his pipe and smoke it." Violet smirks.

A sadness shadows Violet's soft, pale, blue eyes. "Oh MaryLavinia, now you join your cousins George and Sybil in both losing a parent in infancy."

"However, never forget that Crawley blood flows through veins and when life gets too hard for you to bear, family will be there to help you through the difficult times."Violet pauses a little and then continues.

"Your Mama will reunite with all of us in a few days. Your Aunt Mary will take your Grandpapa to task for his stupidity. (Violet conveniently forgets that she and Cora agree to take Mary to Rome if the Pamuk scandal becomes ruinous to the family and Mary's reputation.)

"You, my dear great-granddaughter will be in her Mama's arms once again. She's sad right now because she misses your Papa. But once holding you, she will begin to feel better." Violet assures her young charge.

MaryLavinia yawns in need of a nap. Her imperious great-grandmother agrees as well.

Lavinia and Cora enter the drawing room quietly only to be startled by what they see before them. MaryLavinia lies sleeping contently in her great-grandmother's arms. Sitting in the corner of the sofa, with her head forward, Violet sleeps with a smile etching her face.

THE END


End file.
